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The leading provider of global news, comment and analysis for the telecommunications industryThu, 17 Aug 2017 17:02:04 +0000en-GBhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1Nearly one billion broadband subs expected by 2018http://telecoms.com/147422/nearly-one-billion-broadband-subs-expected-by-2018/
http://telecoms.com/147422/nearly-one-billion-broadband-subs-expected-by-2018/#commentsSun, 09 Jun 2013 10:23:20 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=147422The number of broadband subscribers worldwide will increase by around 50 per cent over the next five years to reach 940 million by the end of 2018, with Asia-Pacific driving much of this growth according to new figures from UK research firm Point Topic.

This is lower than previous estimates from Point Topic, due to low fixed internet penetration in the developing world, although the one billion subscriber mark is expected to be reached (and exceeded) by the end of the decade.

By the end of 2018, South and East Asia is expected to have the greatest volume of broadband subscribers by some distance – around 340 million compared to the 150 million expected for Western Europe, the next-largest market.

Point Topic forecasts that Asia’s subscriber numbers will grow by 70 per cent over the next five years, due mainly to strong growth in Indonesia and Thailand.

]]>http://telecoms.com/147422/nearly-one-billion-broadband-subs-expected-by-2018/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/11/network-expansion1.jpgEC’s super-fast broadband estimates challengedhttp://telecoms.com/144362/ecs-super-fast-broadband-estimates-challenged/
http://telecoms.com/144362/ecs-super-fast-broadband-estimates-challenged/#commentsTue, 21 May 2013 13:43:54 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=144362Providing super-fast broadband to the whole of the European Union could be much less expensive than previously thought, according to UK research firm Point Topic, which estimates that the whole economic area could be served for €80bn – less than a third of the €270bn estimated by the European Commission in its Digital Agenda.

Defined as delivering at least 30Mbps of data downstream, super-fast broadband services have long been championed by EC Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who has taken on the mission of ensuring that all EU households can access these speeds by 2020.

However, both operators and national governments have balked at the cost, so it will come as welcome news to many that the cost may be much lower.

The main reason for Point Topic’s reduced estimate is that super-fast networks have already covered about half of European homes, using a variety of technologies in addition to expensive fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), such as cable and copper-based VDSL, which Point Topic has used as the main connection method in urban areas in its models.

Of the €80bn total, around two-thirds (or €52bn) will be needed to hook up the areas of lowest population density, defined as having less than 100 people per square kilometre.

Tim Johnson, lead author of the report, said: “Most of that amount will have to be funded by the taxpayer in one way or another,” says Johnson, “and we think that’s about as much as they will stand for. But we think that a large proportion of rural Europe will get wired up on that basis.”

]]>http://telecoms.com/144362/ecs-super-fast-broadband-estimates-challenged/feed/0Super-fast broadband now available to half of all EU citizenshttp://telecoms.com/53940/super-fast-broadband-now-available-to-half-of-all-eu-citizens/
http://telecoms.com/53940/super-fast-broadband-now-available-to-half-of-all-eu-citizens/#commentsTue, 27 Nov 2012 08:23:54 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=53940Over half of EU citizens can now access super-fast broadband services, while basic broadband speeds are nearly ubiquitous, according to a study produced by UK firm Point Topic.

Almost 96 per cent of EU homes can now access speeds of at least 144Kbps, and more than half can receive speeds of over 30Mbps – an important (and ambitious) target for 2020 set by the European Commission.

The study was produced for DG Connect, the department of the European Commission which is responsible for its “Digital Agenda” strategy. The purpose of the Digital Agenda is to harness the internet and other digital technologies to drive sustainable economic growth.

Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the EC, wants to see €7bn earmarked for EU investments in broadband to help reach Digital Agenda targets, which in turn is meant to draw in private funds of many times that amount.

“This study gives us the best view so far of where action is needed on broadband coverage,” says Neelie Kroes. “It will help to guide decisions on where EU and private money can be invested to provide the best long-term return for taxpayers and investors such as pension funds.”

There are reported to be huge variations in availability of super-fast broadband: three EU countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Malta) have over 98 per cent coverage; and three others (Italy, Greece and Cyprus) have under 11 per cent.

All the rest are in the range between 35 per cent and 75 per cent. There are also big variations within countries – for example, rural areas across Europe are estimated to have only 12% super-fast broadband coverage as a whole.

In terms of access technology, fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) is still only available to 12 per cent of EU homes. Super-fast cable networks are the most common platform, with 37 per cent of EU homes now within reach of DOCSIS 3.0 networks.

VDSL (Very-fast DSL) was available to 21 per cent of EU homes by the end of 2011. The three technologies together add up to only 50 per cent total super-fast coverage because they overlap a lot, competing to serve the richer and more densely-populated areas, leaving others underserved.

While this is all very heartening for the EC’s 2020 goals, a separate study issued recently by UK consultancy Ventura Partners predicts that at current rates, it will take 92 years to cover the EU with ubiquitous fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks.

Neelie Kroes spoke recently at the Broadband World Forum 2012 event in Amsterdam. To watch her presentation, please click here

]]>http://telecoms.com/53940/super-fast-broadband-now-available-to-half-of-all-eu-citizens/feed/2http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/07/neeliekroes.jpgUK passes 2m super-fast broadband lines in servicehttp://telecoms.com/48006/uk-passes-2m-super-fast-broadband-lines-in-service/
http://telecoms.com/48006/uk-passes-2m-super-fast-broadband-lines-in-service/#commentsThu, 09 Aug 2012 09:18:18 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=48006The UK had more than two million active subscriptions to super-fast broadband services by the beginning of June, meaning that 10 per cent of the country’s broadband lines are now capable of delivering speeds over 25 Mbps, according to a new report from UK research firm Point Topic.

“As Virgin and BT continue to grow their super-fast subscriber numbers they are being joined by other players,” said Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic. “From traditional giants like Sky to the smaller alternative networks, the super-fast technologies are on the way to supremacy in the UK market.”

As the fibre-rich connections which power these services continue to proliferate, older technologies such as copper-based DSL are losing popularity, according to the report: the first half of 2012 saw a tipping point where for the first time, DSL started to lose subscribers overall.

“Copper isn’t finished, it’s still an important part of the UK’s broadband strategy, but the days of sub-superfast are numbered,” added Mr. Johnson. “Super high-bandwidth options – whether delivered over co-axial cable by Virgin Media or over a hybrid copper/fibre network by other players – are now where the consumer sees the future.”

However, there is a long way to go yet: there are still more than 16.3 million subscribers to standard bandwidth products, and they won’t all be persuaded to upgrade their connections anytime soon.

Point Topic’s data shows that the UK now has 21.3 million fixed broadband lines. While just 175,000 connections were added in the second quarter of this year, there were over 600,000 new super-fast subscribers compared to the previous quarter.

Johnson added: “Virgin Media is responsible for the majority of these super-fast gains. They have been upgrading and upselling their customer base very successfully over the last 18 months. BT is now joining the party with 150 thousand new super-fast customers in the quarter, their best yet, and their network is now being used by other players like Sky and TalkTalk to add to the number of high-bandwidth customers in the UK.”

The UK government has set a target of 90 per cent of all homes having access to super-fast broadband connections by 2015, with universal access to speeds of at least 2 Mbps. However, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport conceded earlier this week that it is likely to miss the first target due to procurement delays, with rural areas most likely to be affected.

However, despite these delays, the UK appears on track to have super-fast connections available to the vast majority of households by 2015, and universal access to connections of at least 2 Mbps.

]]>http://telecoms.com/48006/uk-passes-2m-super-fast-broadband-lines-in-service/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2010/11/london.jpgBroadband inaction leads to $7tn per year in lost GDPhttp://telecoms.com/45966/broadband-inaction-leads-to-7tn-per-year-in-lost-gdp/
http://telecoms.com/45966/broadband-inaction-leads-to-7tn-per-year-in-lost-gdp/#commentsMon, 25 Jun 2012 06:54:12 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=45966Tax revenues worth as much as $1.4tn per year are being missed by governments around the world as a result of sluggish rollout of fixed broadband networks, according to UK research firm Point Topic.

Speaking at the CommunicAsia event which took place in Singapore last week, Point Topic CEO Oliver Johnson said: “[There is] a $6.9tn per year increase in GDP that we’re not getting because we don’t have broadband everywhere.”

He added that this can be ascribed to a combination of poor IT knowledge on the part of many politicians, the huge outlays involved in national broadband projects, and the fact that they often take longer to implement than the average government’s term of office.

Despite estimating that it would cost around €200bn to wire up Europe with fibre, Johnson added that the investment would “easily” be recouped within ten years.

Point Topic released a new study earlier this week which estimated that consumer value-added services are set to triple for the telecoms industry from $125bn worldwide in 2011 to $420bn in 2020, with current top earner VoIP to be trumped by IPTV during the period – more details here.

]]>http://telecoms.com/45966/broadband-inaction-leads-to-7tn-per-year-in-lost-gdp/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/06/ojohnson061101.gifBroadband milestone reached: 600mn subs worldwidehttp://telecoms.com/45846/broadband-milestone-reached-600mn-subs-worldwide/
http://telecoms.com/45846/broadband-milestone-reached-600mn-subs-worldwide/#commentsThu, 21 Jun 2012 10:00:13 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=45846The global total of broadband subscribers soared to over 600mn in the first quarter of 2012, indicating a further acceleration in growth as over 100 million new lines were added (20 per cent of the total) in less than 18 months, according to a report prepared for industry body the Broadband Forum by UK research firm Point Topic.

Worldwide growth during the first three months of this year was estimated at 16.12 million broadband lines, up from just over 14 million in the last quarter of 2011. This represents a quarterly rise of 2.7 per cent and an annual increase of 11.48 per cent.

Announcing the figures during the CommunicAsia event in Singapore, Broadband Forum’s CEO Robin Mersh said that they highlight again the dominant position of Asia, led in both broadband and in IPTV by China.

“This is another significant milestone in an exciting arena that shows no sign of slowing down,” said Mersh. “It is just 18 months since we celebrated the 500 million subscriber watershed and even less time since IPTV subscribers reached 50 million – yet in both cases growth is still accelerating.

“It is especially rewarding to be making this announcement in Asia, which has contributed so much to fuelling this phenomenal success. I am also particularly pleased to see how exceptionally well fibre is doing, a clear indication of the importance of our continued efforts in testing and certification of G-PON.”

Asia continues to be the biggest overall region with 262 million broadbandsubscribers in total, having added 8.5 million new lines at a growth rate of 3.38 per cent in the quarter and 15.19 per cent in the year.

Few changes emerged in the Top 20 Broadband Country Rankings, although Russia, Brazil and India all continued to show above average growth rates both in the quarter and annually, with Ukraine and Turkey also showing high growth.

China can celebrate the highest number of new broadband subscribers with an annual growth of 26.4 million (giving a 19 per cent annual growth rate). The highest annual growth rates were posted by Russia (27.43 per cent) and the Ukraine (26.82 per cent), with China, India and Brazil also posting double-digit annual increases.

DSL remains the most popular access technology on a global basis: despite its market share dropping by 0.5 per cent in the quarter, there is still a long way to go before the copper-based access technology is overtaken, according to Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic.

“For fibre, the cost-effectiveness, from the operators point of view, and the significant increase in bandwidth over DSL in particular is hitting the sweet spot at the moment in terms of technology market share,” he added.

Meanwhile, the number of subscribers to managed IPTV services globally reached 65.6mn, up 3.8mn in the quarter, with the Asia market advancing the fastest, thanks in large part to China, which added over three times as many IPTV subscribers in the quarter as any other country.

]]>http://telecoms.com/45846/broadband-milestone-reached-600mn-subs-worldwide/feed/0Russia escapes broadband crunch as others falterhttp://telecoms.com/44903/russia-escapes-broadband-crunch-as-others-falter/
http://telecoms.com/44903/russia-escapes-broadband-crunch-as-others-falter/#commentsMon, 28 May 2012 09:42:49 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=44903While many markets around the world have seen lower than expected growth over the past three years in terms of broadband adoption, Russia has bucked the trend by posting big growth figures, according to UK research firm Point Topic.

Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic, said: “This has been a difficult period for the world. Markets have been subject to a number of internal and external shocks that have made it pretty difficult for crystal ball gazers. Our global projection from May 2009 ended up being just over 3.5 per cent too optimistic compared to the actual numbers reported at the end of 2011.”

Malaysia and Russia at opposite ends of the spectrum, while US looks likely to slip down rankings

Russia and Malaysia are identified as being at opposite ends of the scale: in Russia, it has been notoriously difficult to source accurate figures for broadband take-up, according to Point Topic. However, new data released recently by Russian operators on fibre take-up is described as being particularly impressive.

“At the other end of the scale, in Malaysia, it’s a much more disappointing number, despite the market being theoretically ripe for growth – there were plans in place, the subscription pricing was at a reasonable level, demand certainly existed, but there is still not the level of take-up expected. It seems it’s down to lack of competition,” added Johnson.

Malaysia only very recently launched services with bandwidths over 4Mbps, so the hope is that the advent of faster services and more competition will drive the numbers up in future.

The USA is described as being only five per cent below targets set in 2009, as operators continue to cherry pick the revenue-rich areas, often already covered with a broadband deployment.

Lack of competition and a disconnect between federal oversight of the national regulator and the state-level restrictions that many incumbents are able to get into law mean the US is likely to continue slipping down the rankings of penetration, bandwidth and coverage, according to Point Topic.

India meanwhile missed projections by a small margin. The country faces “significant” infrastructure issues, and has suffered from corruption particularly with reference to licence allocation, the study states.

Coupled with a slow-moving approach from government and regulator, these elements have all combined to make the market with the second biggest potential in the world report stuttering numbers. Point Topic expects it to accelerate, but rural India will be making do with expensive low speed services for some time to come.

Australia beat Point Topic’s forecasts from 2009 by more than four per cent due partly to the relatively light recessionary impact, but thanks also to the National Broadband Network and associated spend on broadband development and awareness, as well as a high urban percentage population.

Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong are markets which should be suffering far more from saturation than they seem to be, according to Point Topic. Generally high penetration of broadband means that operators have captured the new users that are available and the battle is then to churn them away from competitors.

Standalone broadband services start to disappear in France

France is often touted as a leader in Europe, thanks to high broadband penetration, high IPTV adoption and widespread VoIP use. However standalone, broadband only, services are starting to disappear, according to the report, as France offers the lowest price bundles, relative to average income in the country, of anywhere in the world.

Brazil and China are both reporting very strong numbers. The relaxation of some of the more onerous regulations and access to at least part of the markets by foreign suppliers and the growth of their monied middle classes has meant strong growth.

Both however face major infrastructure challenges. Penetration is still fairly low in comparison to many markets, and there is plenty of demand left in deployment areas to continue to grow for a number of quarters, according to the research firm.

“Overall broadband has fared reasonably well given the prevailing market conditions and certainly in comparison to other industries,” concludes Mr. Johnson. “Variances in local market conditions have had an impact on overall global growth but there are almost as many ups as there are downs.

“We couldn’t end this without mentioning our UK numbers. We’re based in the UK and do considerable work, right down to the postcode, on the state of the market, its players and its consumers. To be out by 0.35 per cent over a three year period is something we’re pretty happy with.”

]]>http://telecoms.com/44903/russia-escapes-broadband-crunch-as-others-falter/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2009/03/russia1.jpgUK super-fast altnets starting to find their nichehttp://telecoms.com/41670/uk-super-fast-altnets-starting-to-find-their-niche/
http://telecoms.com/41670/uk-super-fast-altnets-starting-to-find-their-niche/#commentsTue, 27 Mar 2012 10:38:44 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=41670A report from Point Topic finds that smaller network operators are beginning to find a niche for high-speed broadband services in the UK, despite BT and Virgin Media gaining real scale with their own market-dominating services.

Although not all altnets will be successful, some are expected to find that a varied and localised approach can prosper as they bring super-fast broadband to individual communities that have often been struggling with access to even the most basic of broadband services.

The report predicts that alternative operators in the UK have increased their residential customer base by 85 per cent since the middle of 2011, and had around 8,400 fibre-based super-fast end-user connections at the end of last year. These include fibre-to-the-premises, fibre-to-the-building and fibre-to-the-cabinet providers.

“This connections number is small fry compared with the big network owners BT and Virgin Media, but it is highly significant for the communities being reached, some of which would otherwise run the risk of being left without super-fast broadband, at least for some years to come,” said Annelise Berendt, Senior Analyst at Point Topic.

“There is evidence, including from BT, that take up of super-fast services is highest in those areas previously experiencing poor speeds of 2Mbps or below, and this bodes well for those addressing such markets and aiming to make the business case stake up.”

A recent Point Topic survey found that some of the altnets working closely with specific communities are seeing strong results, both in terms of getting infrastructure in the ground and in getting customers onto their networks.

“Players such as Call Flow Solutions and Rutland Telecom using sub loop unbundling to provide fibre-to-the-cabinet solutions are building solid customer bases in the areas in which they are active,” added Berendt. “That is in small but not necessarily very remote communities, which tend to be located some distance from their serving BT exchange, and which are often prepared to put money into network rollout themselves.

“Local knowledge of potential demand and the geographical terrain, as well as being able to tap into local enthusiasm for broadband provision, are essential to getting these networks up and running. Indeed it is no surprise that several local authorities are recruiting ‘broadband champions’ to canvas support and demand registration for their Local Broadband Plans, and to feed back ideas from the ground up. It is also notable that new approaches to raising finance and negotiations with local land owners on wayleaves help to turn a desired deployment into a viable business venture.”

Point Topic predicts that initiatives to make the growing number of scattered alternative networks more readily available to the country’s Internet service providers and especially the larger more well known brands will become increasingly valid as the numbers of these networks rise.

“Fluidata’s wholesale platform and the Quality Marque being developed by INCA, the Independent Networks Cooperative Association, are good examples of projects that could make a real difference to the ability of these altnets to flourish over the longer term.”

Point Topic’s research also highlights the innovative use of alternative backhaul networks. FibreSpeed in Wales and NYnet in North Yorkshire are each being used by Internet service providers to bring their offerings to more remote communities.

Meanwhile, players such as AB Internet and Netserve in Wales through the ‘FibreSpeed spreads its wings’ initiative, and Moorsweb and LN Communications through the Connecting North Yorkshire project, are using wireless technologies to provide broadband.

“While not as high speed as fibre networks, improvements in wireless broadband capabilities are resulting in some premises receiving super-fast speeds. And of course such offerings would not be possible were it not for access to affordable backhaul provision,” concluded Berendt.

]]>http://telecoms.com/41670/uk-super-fast-altnets-starting-to-find-their-niche/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/06/Optic_Cable.jpgFTTx connections rise 69% in Europehttp://telecoms.com/40034/fttx-connections-rise-69-in-europe/
http://telecoms.com/40034/fttx-connections-rise-69-in-europe/#commentsThu, 16 Feb 2012 09:56:27 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=40034European operators are continuing to adopt fibre access solutions to meet their customers’ needs and deliver on the vision of a well-connected home, according to a new report from industry body the Broadband Forum (formerly the DSL Forum).

Hybrid Fibre-to-the-x (FTTx) deployments have been particularly prolific, according to the report, with a 69 per cent surge in the 12 months to September 2011, reaching 9.8 million connections.

“The future of Europe, at least for the next five years, is going to be dominated by FTTx,” said Oliver Johnson, CEO at UK research firm Point Topic, which prepared the study for the Broadband Forum. “The cost of full fibre (FTTH) deployment, particularly the last mile, is prohibitive and so the industry and consumers need a stepping stone which is provided by hybrid solutions such as FTTx. FTTx provides a significant increase in bandwidth and an efficient use of existing infrastructure and allows the welcome continued amortisation of costs.”

There were 741,563 new Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections added in Europe in the 12 months to September 2011, reaching 3.2 million. The number of DSL broadband connections increased by 9.2 million in the 12 month period to reach 125.8 million by September 2011, while the number of cable broadband connections rose by just under two million to reach 25.8 million.

The report adds that strong customer demand for IPTV services in Europe and active fibre rollouts in the region mean that it still accounts for the lion’s share (23.5 million) of global IPTV subscribers (nearly 55 million).

Fibre-related initiatives which are currently being driven by the Broadband Forum include test specifications for additional conformance testing modules for G-PON ONU, OLT and XG-PON1 as well as an interoperability test plan. Work to enhance PON device management via CPE WAN Management Protocol (TR-069) is also in place, and new PON energy efficiency efforts are under way, the industry body reports.

]]>http://telecoms.com/40034/fttx-connections-rise-69-in-europe/feed/2Global broadband subs surgehttp://telecoms.com/38484/global-broadband-subs-surge/
http://telecoms.com/38484/global-broadband-subs-surge/#commentsFri, 13 Jan 2012 15:30:48 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=38484The number of broadband subscribers worldwide rose by 3.08 per cent (or 17.4 million lines) during the third quarter of 2011 to reach a total of 581.3 million, according to new figures prepared for the Broadband Forum by Point Topic.

This is the biggest surge since early 2009, and the figures also point to the growing importance of fibre in the technology mix, as Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) and hybrid FTTx deployments increase.

The figures show that while DSL remains the dominant technology, adding more lines than any other in the third quarter of last year, fibre technologies showed the largest growth in percentage terms with over eight per cent for both FTTH and FTTx combined, compared to 2.2 per cent for cable and two per cent for DSL.

Fibre-to-the-x added just under 19 million lines in the three month period – more than double the number of one year previously – and now has a market share of 16 per cent, meaning that it is fast catching up with cable’s 19.5 per cent.

Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic said: “Hybrid FTTx will be where the action is over the next few years. Consumers are showing signs of being ready to pay for faster connections and the hybrid solution set is a cost effective way of getting relatively high speeds to them.”

Asia continues to dominate growth, with over 10.3 million lines added in the quarter, giving it a 42.34 per cent share of the total broadband market. The strongest growth continues to be in China, although strong growth in Russia has seen it improve its ranking to seventh place, fuelled partly by IPTV adoption.

IPTV continues to grow steadily, generating “significant” additional revenues as service providers work hard to make IPTV an integral part of their product package, according to the study. There were an estimated 54.4 million IPTV subscribers worldwide by the end of September, up 6.06 per cent on a quarterly basis.

Asia was once again the fastest-growing region for IPTV, but European markets are strengthening on an individual basis, and while some saturation is perceived, there is “fundamental strength” in the market which has driven the region to a three-year high in quarterly net additions, according to Point Topic.

The top ten countries for IPTV all reported strong growth in the third quarter of 2011, with Russia being a major success story, entering the top ten for the first time and immediately occupying eighth place.

Growth in France (the current world leader) is still believed to be very strong, despite its already high penetration rate, but China will soon take over the top spot thanks to its much larger market size, according to the report.

A recent report from Informa Telecoms & Media (publisher of Telecoms.com) has predicted that the number of pay IPTV subscribers worldwide will more than double over the next five years and reach 76.5 million by the end of 2016.

]]>http://telecoms.com/38484/global-broadband-subs-surge/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2010/03/broadband1.jpgNew fibre rivals gearing up to challenge BThttp://telecoms.com/36704/new-fibre-rivals-gearing-up-to-challenge-bt/
http://telecoms.com/36704/new-fibre-rivals-gearing-up-to-challenge-bt/#commentsTue, 15 Nov 2011 09:53:57 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=36704A raft of new names are poised to enter the UK’s super-fast broadband market and challenge incumbent BT by building alternative fibre-based networks, according to UK analyst firm Point Topic.

“Our regular survey of alternative superfast infrastructure projects shows a second wave of players with new money entering the market,” said Annelise Berendt, senior analyst at Point Topic. “While BT’s plan to increase the pace of its next-generation network rollout, Virgin Media’s 100Mbps network upgrade and Fujitsu’s challenge for government money are well known, they are joined by several smaller players who have persuaded financiers to put up cash. These include CityFibre, Gigaclear, Call Flow Solutions and Hypnotic.

“Meanwhile, Kingston Communications, the incumbent in Hull, has begun upgrading areas of its network for fibre-based services, launching a trial in September 2011,” added Berendt. “And there are other names getting involved through the BDUK framework such as Network Rail, Balfour Beatty and Thales in addition to BT and Fujitsu.”

BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) is the agency charged with using over £500m ($795m) of government funds to help build super-fast broadband where it would otherwise not be available. BDUK has created a ready-made bidding framework to ease the task for the local economic partnerships – groups of local authorities – which will be charged with spending the money.

There are now believed to be around 100 different super-fast broadband projects underway in the UK, ranging from single villages to the deployment of super-fast services across whole regions. About 20 of the projects are being developed by BT and cable rival Virgin Media, with a variety of pilot projects, trials and collaborations as well as their main rollouts. The remainder are split about evenly between the public and the private sectors.

“What’s encouraging on the private side is to see the way smaller firms are bringing new money into the business,” said Ms. Berendt. Examples of this include the acquisition by CityFibre Holdings of the part-built Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network installed in Bournemouth by the now-defunct Fibrecity enterprise. From that base CityFibre is trying to raise the money to deploy fibre to one million homes and 50,000 businesses in secondary towns and cities.

Sub-loop unbundling pioneer, Rutland Telecom, has sold a majority stake to Gigaclear and has now outlined county-wide ambitions. New player Hypnotic, which focuses on taking fibre to apartment blocks, announced its first deployment in October 2011, and Call Flow Solutions, already involved in publicly-funded projects in Kent, is rolling out a commercial sub-loop unbundling installations in the village of West Peckham.

“With the BDUK funding allocation process now well underway, and new sources of private sector investment coming forward, this all looks promising for superfast broadband Britain,” said Berendt. “But on the other hand from past experience, we know it takes a long time for investment, plans and network rollouts to turn into real customers.”

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]]>http://telecoms.com/36704/new-fibre-rivals-gearing-up-to-challenge-bt/feed/1http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2010/02/bt1.jpgStudy highlights potential impact of 1% cut in broadband priceshttp://telecoms.com/35678/study-highlights-potential-impact-of-1-cut-in-broadband-prices/
http://telecoms.com/35678/study-highlights-potential-impact-of-1-cut-in-broadband-prices/#commentsThu, 27 Oct 2011 08:38:30 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=35678Standards and affordability are proving two of the most decisive factors in efforts to drive up broadband adoption and close the digital divide, according to a new report from UK research firm Point Topic.

“The next wave of broadband, commonly titled ‘superfast’, is gathering steam,” said Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic. “With more than half a billion fixed lines already in use and many markets extending the reach of fixed broadband across their populations, the spectre of a deepening digital divide rears its head. On a global basis, if suppliers can shave one per cent off the cost of a broadband service then that brings it into the economic reach of at least another five million households.”

However, even in the countries which have already deployed GPON technology, there are still many areas which cannot support a commercial rollout of fibre for economic or practical reasons. Economies of scale enabled by the adoption of industry standards will prove “significant” in providing the necessary infrastructure elements for GPON deployment, according to the research firm.

Johnson added: “It’s way too early to say we’ve solved the availability issue for broadband. There are still plenty of countries with lower penetration than you’d want to see. That said, the majority of those countries are where broadband services, even when they go past the front door, are not in households because they can’t afford it. Even in ‘mature’ and relatively rich broadband markets there are significant shortfalls in take-up due to the cost of a subscription and the kit that goes with it.

“Standards are one component of bringing down the price of a broadband service. Competition, information and technological advances all make a difference. Mostly however it’s about how much of any saving a supplier can pass on to its customers and to be able to reduce costs at a stroke of a standards pen should bring some immediate relief for the digital divide.”

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]]>http://telecoms.com/35678/study-highlights-potential-impact-of-1-cut-in-broadband-prices/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/05/standards.jpgGlobal broadband subs see fastest quarterly growth since 2009http://telecoms.com/29608/global-broadband-subs-see-fastest-quarterly-growth-since-2009/
http://telecoms.com/29608/global-broadband-subs-see-fastest-quarterly-growth-since-2009/#commentsWed, 22 Jun 2011 09:14:24 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=29608The number of fixed broadband subscribers worldwide increased by 2.9 per cent on a consecutive basis in the first quarter of this year to reach 15.2 million, giving the biggest quarterly increase in the last two years, according to new figures announced by the Broadband Forum.

In a report compiled for the Forum by Point Topic, Asia was found to still be the fastest-growing region for broadband subscribers, with a growth rate of 16.2 per cent in the 12 months to March of this year—almost double that of the Americas.

Asia’s fixed broadband subscribers now make up 42 per cent of the global total, up from 40 per cent last year, with Europe and the Americas coming behind with 30 and 25 per cent respectively. Emerging markets are also believed to be making strides, with the Middle East and Latin America advancing quickly.

The strong Asian broadband growth is believed to be due in part to the continuing success of broadband in China, with 42 per cent of total net additions in the first quarter of this year coming from China and its territories (the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau).

IPTV was also found to have shown “exceptional” growth rates in the 12 months to March, with the number of worldwide subscribers increasing by over 34 per cent in the period to reach 48.2 million. France is still placed at the head of the table of top ten countries in terms of IPTV subscribers, with China a close second and Taiwan also now on the leader board in ninth place.

Europe continues to be the top-performing region for IPTV with over 21 million subscribers, but Asia is catching up fast with 18 million, and both China and Taiwan are showing annual growth rates of more than 50 per cent. Of the 2.9 million new IPTV subscribers added worldwide in the first quarter of this year, 1.4 million came from Asia, according to the report.

In terms of access technologies, fibre (including various hybrid DSL/fibre rollouts) is by far the fastest-growing, with an increase in its subscriber base of more than 20 per cent in the 12 months to March 2011. DSL and cable are also believed to still be growing, and for the first time fixed wireless access (FWA) technology is beginning to take off, according to the report.

]]>http://telecoms.com/29608/global-broadband-subs-see-fastest-quarterly-growth-since-2009/feed/0http://telecoms.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2010/11/broadbandzone.jpgGlobal bandwidth costs continue to drop, says reporthttp://telecoms.com/28844/global-bandwidth-costs-continue-to-drop-says-report/
http://telecoms.com/28844/global-bandwidth-costs-continue-to-drop-says-report/#commentsThu, 09 Jun 2011 11:14:05 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=28844Residential consumer broadband prices per Mbps have continued to fall in 2011, particularly in the Americas, while the rise of fibre-based services means there will be no respite in the pressure for ISPs to offer more value, according to a new report from research firm Point Topic.

The cost per Mbps is reported to have declined across all regions between the final quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2011, according to the report, but a significant 40 per cent price drop has been seen in Latin America, followed closely by North America and Canada at 35 per cent across all access technologies.

Downward pressure on the price of bandwidth is believed to be constant, with consumers wanting more for their money and suppliers often finding themselves in competitive marketplaces where the challenge comes from other technologies as well as other companies.

“Consumers still perceive speed, or downstream bandwidth to be more precise, as a significant factor in their decision making,” said Fiona Vanier, senior analyst at Point Topic. “This works up to a point. There is evidence that residential consumers in particular are having difficulty imagining what they can do with more than 50Mbps today and their purchasing decisions are not driven by bandwidth as much as they used to be.”

As fibre broadband networks continue to pass more and more homes, there is not expected to be any easing in the pressure for ISPs to offer more value to their customers: “It will prove increasingly difficult to differentiate yourself as a broadband supplier based just on higher and higher headline bandwidths,” added Vanier. “The mature broadband markets in particular are entering a phase where value-added services and customer relationships will be more and more important. The downside is that consumers could be seeing the end of significant increases in bandwidth or reductions in tariffs.”